The Plano West Chamber Orchestra is Chicago bound! We are beyond excited to share that we are an invited string orchestra for the 2018 Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. Performing groups are selected through a very competitive evaluation process, and performing at Midwest is considered a significant national honor. We’re excited for the opportunity and look forward to representing Texas along with some other great ensembles from our state! The group will travel in December of 2018.

Incoming juniors and seniors: Please find the audition music for next school year below.

Current Sophomores (incoming Juniors) will sign up with your high school director for a 5 minute audition the evening of April 30 – May 2, and current Juniors (next year’s Seniors) will audition during their class period the week of April 30.

Students who are transferring to Plano West (from outside the West Cluster or PISD), can email Mr. Ross at ryan.ross@pisd.edu to schedule an audition.

To access the audition music, use the links below. If you have any issues accessing the music, talk with the orchestra teacher at your campus.

Congrats to our recently selected junior officer team! It really was an unbelievably difficult process narrowing down the candidates, and we are so appreciative to everyone who was interested and interviewed. We really do have the best students in the world!

We are extremely happy to share that Plano West has a record 18 All-Staters this year! This is the highest accomplishment a student can earn in the TMEA system, and we are beyond proud of the hard work these students invested!

Congratulations to all West students who made an amazing showing at All-Region today! The following number of students will tape for All-State for each instrument, so if you fall within that number, keep working that All-State music! 24 violins, 16 violas, 16 cellos. It’s possible some people will choose to not tape, so if you’re close, you may still get a chance. We’ll know more next week.

Want to place an ad in the Plano West Orchestra’s concert programs for the 2017-2018 school year? Complete our form and return by October 6. Students, be sure to put your name on the bottom of any flyers you distribute.

The Plano West Symphony Orchestra is pleased to be named the state champion 2018 TMEA Honor Full Orchestra! This win marks our state-record 7th selection as a Texas honor orchestra. The Symphony Orchestra will now have the opportunity to perform at the TMEA Convention in San Antonio in February 2018.

We are also extremely proud of our feeder middle schools. Rice Middle School is the Middle School Honor String Orchestra, and Robinson MS was a finalist in that same competition. The success we have at Plano West is absolutely rooted in the excellent music instructions our students receive at Jasper, Shepton, Rice, Robinson, Renner, Frankford, and our community of private music instructors.

A special congratulations goes out to last year’s seniors who performed in the winner performance. When we are playing at TMEA next February, you be there with us in our hearts!

Below, you will find a link to find your orchestra placement for next school year. Students are listed by student ID number in a randomized order that does not reflect your placement within your ensemble.

The nature of auditions is that some people are happy with their placements, but others feel some disappointment. Please understand that Mrs. Gross and I spent a great deal of time working through the audition results to guarantee that everyone is in the group that will allow them to succeed, but also to become better musicians. Most importantly, please don’t let the results define you as a musician or as a person. In the end, none of this matters that much. But the work that you will do (or not do) means everything about who you will become as a person.

If you’re disappointed, please consider a few points:

The level of competition at West is high. Really high. The upside of this is that all of our orchestras really play beyond their apparent level. For example, the third orchestra at West is playing at a level much higher than the top orchestra at most schools in Texas. Regardless of the group you’re in, it is going to be good.

2. It is totally normal to be in a “lower” group at West than you were in at Shepton or Jasper. Juniors, remember that you were auditioning against seniors with more experience and against talented players from the other high school. Believe me, though, that the level of music we will be playing in the groups will not in any way be a step back from what you are accustomed to.

Later in the summer, counselors will let us know if there are conflicts in your schedule. Mrs. Gross and I will work those out for you – if there’s something we need to discuss with you in that regard, we will send you an email or call.

I’m so excited for our orchestra next year! This will be the largest Plano West Orchestra in history. Let’s make it a great year!

We are excited to share that the Plano West Chamber Orchestra has been named the 2016 first place winner of The American Prize for Orchestral Performance (school orchestra division)! Congrats to our current seniors and the class of 2016 for their accomplishment! Congratulations are also due to our friends at Arlington HS (NY state), Allen High School, and Reagan HS (San Antonio) for their recognition in the competition.

Incoming juniors and seniors: Please find the audition music for next school year below.

Current Sophomores (incoming Juniors) will sign up with your high school director for a 5 minute audition the evening of May 15-17, and current Juniors (next year’s Seniors) will audition during their class period during the week of May 15.

To access the audition music, use the Google Drive link below. If you have any issues accessing the music, talk with the orchestra teacher at your campus.